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Hello,
Would you explain why you think Benjamin Mays and Martha Frankie Dale are not the parents of my g-grandfather John J. Mays? You didn't mention why you came to that conclusion. Do you have anything which shows their children's names? If so, would you send them to me?
So far I have found postings for two men, Benjamin Mays Jr. and John Daniel Mays, whose descendants claim were sons of Benjamin Mays and Martha Frankie Dale. According to the 1840 census, they had 4 sons at that time. I have written to the persons who provided the information about John Daniel Mays, since they didn't have email addresses listed. Hopefully at least one of the 3 people will respond, and tell me where the information came from.
I traced one of the other two Mays men living in White County, TN in the 1830 census, Elijah Mays. Although he didn't enlist during the Civil War, he was captured by Union soldiers and sent to a Northern prison and apparently never returned home. He is reported as having only daughters. Apparently the Union soldiers didn't believe a young, healthy man wasn't involved in the war. When he was asked whether he sympathized with the north or the south, he said he probably leaned toward the south.
A letter (transcribed onto the internet) written by Leonard Gay Mays, grandson of James Gay Mays, states the family had assumed that Benjamin Mays, the son of James Gay Mays, had gone to Kentucky but found out he had actually gone to Tennessee. Also mentions that two of James Gay Mays' sons were Masons, and that Benjamin Mays and Martha Frankie Dale's son Benjamin Mays Jr. had gone to Nebraska and had been a Congressman there. Great-grandfather John Jackson Mays was also a Mason, apparently the head of the War Eagle, AR Masons lodge from the photo I have of him. To become a Mason, you have to be recommended by other Masons.
Have you seen this letter? The transcript was posted on Google by Lesa Gosnell. Leonard Gay Mays said in the letter he wrote (1928), that he wrote it to provide genealogy info on the Mays family line.
I have been looking through various sources in the hopes of finding more information. No one has yet replied from White County, TN, so I still don't know if there are old records there.
So far I haven't been able to trace the other man shown in the 1830 census, John Mays, but with such a common name and nothing to distinguish him, it would be hard to know which John was which.
Interlibrary loans are difficult for me, since the loaned items are sent to a library to look at. I am partially crippled, live in a very isolated rural area, and have great difficulty getting to a library to look at things. The last two items I had sent to the nearest library had to be sent back before my health allowed me to go to the library to look at them. I depend almost entirely on my computer research and information provided by other researchers. I took up genealogy research some years back because I needed something to occupy my time since I can no longer do any of my other hobbies. Once I started, I became 'addicted' to genealogy!
Oddly enough, two other Mays descendants/researchers (Valerie Burd and Lesa Gosnell) told me they felt I probably was descended from that line, after they had looked through my info. They are looking through their own records to see what they can find.
Documentation is the only proof left when conflicting information comes up.
A similar problem came up researching another family line; a relative in 1920 paid a researcher to find information on our line. For $1800, the researcher sent a beautiful leather bound book, which unfortunately wasn't accurate at all. That family line still believes it is correct, even though it has been proved not to be.
I look forward to hearing from you again.
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